


cheeto fingers

by teddysbear



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti)
Genre: College!AU, Gay, Losers Club (IT) Friendship, M/M, mlm
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:49:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22222843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teddysbear/pseuds/teddysbear
Summary: Eddie Kaspbrak is in college and has been exposed to many things that his overprotective mother didn't dare let him see when he was younger. One of the things he didn't expect to see was a loud-mouthed boy with his arm stuck in the vending machine outside his dorm at 1:18 am. And he most certainly did not expect to fall in love with him.
Relationships: Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh, Bill Denbrough/Stanley Uris, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 7
Kudos: 54





	1. Polo Boy

Eddie sighed as he walked back to his dorm room, his hair wrapped in a towel and his toiletries in a baggie under his arm. He preferred to use the showers late at night because nobody else was there, but showering at 1am was not ideal for his sleep schedule. He was about to reach his hall when he heard a loud moan come from around the corner. He stopped in his tracks and brought his hand up to his face. He’s seen his fair share of lewd public displays of affection, and he wasn’t in the mood for more horny college students tonight. 

He closed his eyes as he turned the corner, the moans growing louder before he hit a solid surface with a solid thunk. 

“Fuck.” Eddie opened his eyes. 

“First day walking?” 

Eddie looked down to see a brown-eyed boy at the bottom of the vending machine he had just walked in to, his arm clearly stuck as he reached for a dangling bag of Cheetos. 

“First day using a vending machine?” 

“That wasn’t anywhere _near_ a good comeback.” The boy snorted (like actually snorted. It was really cute). Eddie stepped back. This boy was _hot._ His hair was a messy mop of black curls, his glasses way too big for his face, and his fashion sense was an odd mix of a barbeque dad and a high school stoner that listened to Post Malone and thought it was deep (seriously, a tacky unbuttoned shirt over a Thrasher T-shirt and cargo shorts with a chain on them gave off those vibes _exactly_ ). His raised shirt revealed a small sliver of skin and the hem of his boxer shorts. 

Eddie gulped. 

“I don’t think you’re in a position to criticize me right now. You didn’t think to try and get another item to knock down the Cheetos you’re trying to grab? Or even shake the machine?” 

The black-haired boy rolled his eyes. “Wooow you’re  _ so _ smart, polo boy. Really wish you were here to spout common sense at me five minutes ago.”

“Polo boy?” Eddie looked down. “I’m wearing a t-shirt today.”

“I’ve seen you wear them before.” He stopped tugging at his arm. “Does your mother still dress you?”

“Oh  _ fuck you _ .” Eddie spat. 

“Bet.” The boy winked.  _ He fucking winked _ . 

Eddie’s face was a dangerous of shade of red when he took a step back. 

“I-I’m gonna go to bed. Late night. Gotta test tomorrow. Good luck with your arm, dumbass.” 

He didn’t wait for a response before he slammed his door shut, his roommate sat on his bed with a knowing smile on his face. 

“Shut up, Mike.” Eddie flopped onto his bed and pulled out his laptop, opening Netflix as Mike joined him. 

“Schitt’s Creek tonight?” Mike yawned as he reached to their shared nightstand to grab his glasses. 

Eddie put on their favorite show as he leaned back in his bed, leaning his head back as he thought of the stupid boy with his arm in the vending machine. And he said that he’s seen Eddie around before? How has Eddie not noticed him before today? 

Mike paused the episode fifteen minutes in. 

“Still thinking about that boy? Go  _ talk  _ to him.” He gave Eddie’s arm a playful nudge.

“I don’t want to. He’s dumb and stupid and a jerk and annoying and his outfit is stupid.”

“His outfit is stupid?” Mike chuckled. 

“Uh yeah, that’s what I said. No need to repeat it.” Eddie sat up and pressed play on the laptop. 

The two watched a few more episodes until Eddie couldn’t take the banging sound coming from the vending machine anymore. 

“Go get him, Eddie.” Mike yawned as he moved to his bed, curling up in his blankets as Eddie quietly opened the door. 

He tiptoed behind the vending machine boy and wrapped his arms under his armpit as he yanked back with all of his force, sending both boys falling backwards in a flurry of loud obscenities and flailing arms. 

Eddie gasped as the boy landed in his lap, his glasses skewed and shirt halfway up his chest. 

“You know, I was uh, I was supposed to get my arm out by myself. Physics assignment. Calculating force…” He mumbled before he tilted his head back to meet Eddie’s eyes. “Name’s Richie, by the way.”

_ Richie _ . 

The top of Richie’s head was pressed against Eddie’s lips. His pale stomach was rising and falling gently with his breath. His long arms stretched out to the sides of Eddie’s legs.  _ Shit.  _ He was so close. 

Eddie did the only logical thing he could think of and shoved Richie off of him, sending the boy’s head flying back into the vending machine with a loud thunk. 

“Oh  _ fuck! _ What was that for?!” Richie turned around as Eddie slammed the door to his room, his back pressed against his door as he let out a long string of curse words, earning him a concerned look from Mike. 

“Do you make it a habit to slam the door on boys you just gave a concussion? Or am I a special case?” Richie spoke through the door.  _ Fuck these thin doors _ . Eddie’s eyes opened wide before he opened his mouth to speak. 

“Only the cute ones!” Mike shouted back, grinning ear to ear as Eddie brought his hands to his forehead. 

“You’re not cute!” Eddie yelled, staring daggers at Mike. 

“That contradicts what your roommate just said. Give me his number, I’ll take him out sometime.” 

Mike was howling with laughter as Eddie banged his head on the door. 

“I-is your head okay?” He spoke softly after a minute or two. He didn’t receive a response. 

He opened the door and sure enough Richie was gone. Eddie sighed in relief. 

He looked down to see a package of Cheetos on the floor with a barely-legible note written on the package. 

“ _ Found a couple quarters under the machine.  _

_ Text me, polo boy? _

_ (XXX) XXX-XXXX _ ”

“Mike I got his number!” Eddie screamed, realizing his door was open and it was well past 2am. 

“Wait a little bit to text him,” Mike rubbed his eyes. “Maybe until tomorrow - get some rest before your test tomorrow. But congrats, bud!” He immediately fell back asleep. 

Eddie definitely  _ tried _ to sleep that night, but he found himself opening his eyes every ten minutes to type out and delete texts to Richie. Was it too obvious if he texted him now, at 3:13 in the morning? Or would Richie think he was disinterested if he didn’t text? 

_ Just so you know, I never plan on wearing polos again thanks to you _

Eddie pressed send at exactly 3:30. He gasped when he saw the typing bubble pop up immediately. 

_ nooooo don’t do that D: you look good in them. makes you look like a hot dad ;) _

Eddie blushed. 

_ Ew. Didn’t need to know you were into DILFS _

_ changing your contact to “university of maine’s hottest dilf” as we speak.  _

_ Ok DILFLover69.  _

Eddie snorted. The two continued to riff back and forth for a while until Eddie’s alarm went off to wake up in the morning. 

Eddie groaned as he sat up, noticing a bagel, water bottle, and cup of coffee from the cafeteria on his nightstand with a note from Mike. 

_ “Figured you would need it today. Good luck on that Chem test. Text that boy! _

  * _M xox ”_



Getting to class was a pain in the ass. His body ached and his eyes burned from being on his phone all night. He half-assed his test and decided to skip his other two classes for the day, opting to take a nap in his bed instead. 

He ended up waking up at 6pm, cursing to himself as he didn’t mean to sleep that long. He checked his phone and his heart skipped a beat when he saw a text from Richie

_ didn’t see u in the halls today :( do i have to get stuck in another vending machine to get ur attention? _

And another text sent about an hour ago:

_ small emergency. check outside ur dorm ;) _

He raised his eyebrows in confusion, putting on his slippers as he walked to his door. He opened it to find Richie with his arm in the vending machine yet again, his free hand scrolling through his phone. His face lit up when he saw a very sleepy Eddie rub his eyes in the doorway. 

“Nice bedhead.”

“How long have you been here?”

“Uhhh…” Richie checked the time on his phone. “About an hour and twenty minutes.”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “Well I’m not going to help you out this time. This is your fault.”

Richie fake pouted. “What does a boy have to do to get some attention around here?”

Eddie was admittedly quite flattered that someone would go this far to get his attention, but he wasn’t going to give Richie any form of satisfaction. He turned around and walked back into his room, teasing Richie as he closed his door slowly. 

“Bye Richie! See you tomorrow!” He spoke in a sing-songy voice, not able to hide his giggle.

“Wait! Wait!” Richie’s voice was soaked in dramatic desperation. “I’ll take you out to dinner if you pull me out?”

“Only if you pay.” Eddie opened the door halfway. 

“Deal.” Richie winked.  _ What was it with hot boys and winking? _

Eddie opened the door all the way and yanked Richie out of the vending machine, trying (and failing) not to fall backwards this time. 

“I never got your name, by the way.” Richie looked up at Richie, both boys in a similar position they were in the night before. 

“Eddie.”

“Eddie Spaghetti. I like it.”

“No, it’s just Eddie.” His tone shifted. 

“Eds.”

“ _ Eddie _ .”

“Eddilf.”

“E-d-d-i-e.”

“We’ll settle on Eds.” Richie stood up on his own, reaching out his hand to help Eddie up, which Eddie blatantly ignored. 

“My name is Eddie or you aren’t taking me out to dinner.” Eddie fake-scowled as he crossed his arms.

Richie gasped and clutched his heart. “Oh woe is me!” He stumbled backwards. “How ever will I cope?”

Eddie snorted. “Tonight at 8?”

“Sounds like a date! Are you uh… gonna change or?”

“ _ Duh,  _ asswipe. I’m going to change. At least I  _ will _ if you’ll leave me alone and let me get ready in peace.”

Richie gave Eddie a salute and a wink before walking off to his own dorm. Eddie closed his door and smiled. 

_ A date.  _


	2. Mountaindew and Pringles

Eddie threw on his baby pink polo before he combed his hair in the reflection of his laptop screen. He knew Richie would think the polo was funny. He grabbed a bottle of cologne and gave himself a few sprays before checking the time. 7:20. He had 40 minutes before his date. His leg shook as he sat on the side of his bed, reaching into his backpack for his inhaler. His asthma always acted up when he was nervous. 

He texted Mike. 

_ Hey, I have a date in 40 minutes. What’s that breathing exercise you taught me last week?.  _

Mike responded immediately and sent a few cute cat gifs afterwards and a billion questions about the date that Eddie ignored. 

He scrolled through tumblr to pass the time and fell out of his bed when he heard a knock at the door. He cursed loudly as his head hit the nightstand before standing up. He checked his reflection in the mirror and smoothed down his shirt before he opened the door to see Richie in a suit. 

“A suit? Really?” Eddie snorted at how ridiculous (and ridiculously  _ hot _ ) Richie looked.

“Lookin’ good yourself, polo boy.” Richie smirked, sending butterflies up Eddie’s spine. “Bone app the teeth.” He held out a can of pringles and a 2 Liter of Mountain Dew. 

“You have to be fucking kidding me.” Eddie laughed as the other boy scowled. 

“I’m on a budget! Stand up comedy doesn’t exactly pay the bills, you know…”

“Of course it doesn’t. You have to be funny to be a comedian.”

“Oh fuck you.” Richie pushed Eddie’s shoulder. 

“You have to actually  _ buy  _ me dinner first, dickwad.”

Richie fake pouted and Eddie opened his door, stepping to the side as he gestured inwards. 

“If we aren’t going out to dinner, do you want to come in?” 

Richie nodded as he took a step inside. 

“Wow. You probably have the most boring room on campus.”

“If you don’t like it you can leave. The door is right there.” Eddie crossed his arms. 

The two continued bantering back and forth for a while and Eddie’s nerves subsided. He had never been on a date before, and this one seemed to be going pretty well. Richie sat on the bed next to him, close enough to be friendly but not too close. Eddie kept trying to discreetly slide closer to him. 

They passed the can of Pringles and the bottle of Mountain Dew back and forth until it was empty. Their knees were touching and Eddie’s heart was pounding. 

“Do you uh, maybe want to watch a show or something?” Eddie gestured towards his laptop. 

“Sure. I’m down for whatever.”

Eddie turned on Parks and Rec and leaned back in his bed, setting his laptop between the two of them. Richie leaned back too, resting his hands behind his head so his elbows bumped Eddie’s head. 

He pretended to be annoyed by this and gently shoved Richie to the side, not knowing that Richie was going to dramatically throw himself off of the bed in response. 

He gasped as Richie’s body hit the floor with a thunk and the two burst out into laughter before Richie grabbed him by the ankle and yanked him down too. 

Eddie landed on top of Richie. Their noses were touching and Eddie’s forehead was definitely bruised, but he wasn’t worried about that right now. His chest was tight and he couldn’t breathe and his asthma was acting up and  _ Richie’s lips were touching his oh shit oh fuck when did this happen? _

He gasped as he felt Richie’s hand firm on his lower back, the other one tangling itself in his hair. Eddie’s nose was scrunched as he kissed Richie back, their teeth clashing as he tried to figure out what to do. This was his first time kissing anyone and it was sloppy and messy and his forehead hurt and Richie tasted like salty Mountain Dew. 

Just as Eddie started getting the hang of it, Richie pulled his head to the side, leaving the two boys gasping for air as they stared at each other with wide eyes. 

“You’re a way better kisser than your mom.” Richie finally spoke. 

“Asswipe.” Eddie rolled off of Richie and lay next to him, the two of them staring at the ceiling as their hands touched. 

The two of them stayed in silence for a few minutes, a scene from parks and rec played softly in the background as their breathing became less labored. 

“T-that was my first kiss.” Eddie spoke louder than he intended. 

The other boy propped himself up on his elbow as he turned to face Eddie. “Really? You weren’t half bad.”

“Thanks. Ditto, I guess.” Eddie didn’t make eye contact. He thought his first kiss would be different and not taste like a vending machine and not smell like old carpet. He liked how messy and weird his first kiss was, and he liked how it was with a boy he had just met that annoyed the shit out of him that was also super hot and - 

Richie grabbed his hand. 

Eddie was suddenly very aware of how sweaty his own hands were. 

He turned his head to look at Richie. 

“Enjoying the view?” He smirked. 

“Shut up. You’re on thin fucking ice right now.”

“Oh am I?” Richie snorted before he leaned down so his lips brushed against Eddie’s. “ _ Let’s see if this will change your mind. _ ”

His breath hitched as Richie kissed him. This kiss was a lot softer than their first one and only lasted a few seconds, but Eddie found himself reaching for his inhaler afterwards. 

“I don’t think you have asthma.” Richie spoke as Eddie brought his inhaler up to his mouth. 

“Fuck you.” Eddie rolled his eyes after he exhaled. 

“Fuck your mom.” Richie kissed Eddie before he could protest. 

“Stop doing that.” Eddie pushed Richie’s face off of him, scrunching his face up in mock-disgust.

“Doing what?” 

“Kissing me to distract me.”

Richie pouted. “You don’t like kissing me?. How homophobic of you.”

“I hate gay people so much it’s unreal.” It was Eddie’s turn to be bold. He placed his hand on the back of Richie’s neck and pulled him down for a kiss. Richie hummed in surprise as his lips clashed against Eddie’s, this kiss more rough than the last few. 

Richie rolled on top of Eddie just as a knock on the door startled the two of them. 

“Eddie?” Mike spoke through the door. “I’m opening the door now.”

Richie jumped off of Eddie and sat on the bed. Eddie was not as quick to respond. 

Mike laughed as he opened the door to see a very panicked Eddie laying on the floor as Richie scooted back against the wall with his legs crossed on Eddie’s bed. 

“Hope I wasn’t interrupting anything.” Mike chuckled. 

“No of course you weren’t. What would we even be doing? Haha no worries here, dude. Nothing to see and nothing to do in this room. We are totally just chilling. Dude. Just chilling.” Eddie cringed as Richie buried his face in his hands. 

“Ok  _ dude _ ,” Mike walked to grab a sweater from the dresser. “I’ll be out of your hair. Just wanted to grab this. Be safe, okay? I have con -”

“Ew okay, mom.” Eddie interrupted him, standing up as he quite literally pushed Mike out of the door. “Bye! See you later!” He slammed the door shut and Richie burst out into laughter. 

Eddie flopped onto his bed next to Richie, laying on his back as he looked up at the black-haired boy. 

“Have you ever kissed a boy before?” 

“Yeah. A few, actually.” 

“Girls?”

“Just your mom.” Richie winked before Eddie punched his arm. 

The two sat in silence for a while. Eddie wanted to ask what all of this meant. Were they going to date or was this just casual? Were they going to talk again after this? 

He didn’t say anything. 

He looked up at Richie to see that he was asleep, snoring softly with his mouth open as his glasses sat crookedly on his face. 

_ Cute. _

Eddie tried his best to sit up quietly without waking Richie. He reached to his nightstand for his phone and snuck a few photos of the black-haired boy, snickering to himself as he set one of the photos as his lock screen. 

He scrolled through his phone after that, unsure of whether he should wake Richie or let him sleep. Part of him wanted Richie to stay - to sleep over and hold Eddie in his arms as they drifted off to sleep. He couldn’t, though. It was way too early in their “relationship” and Richie would definitely question why Eddie didn’t wake him up the next morning. 

He checked the time.  _ 11:53 pm _ . Mike was due back soon - his class ended at 11:55. Eddie decided it was best to wake Richie now; waking him now would present opportunities for a few kisses. 

“Hey asshole, time to wake up.” Eddie pushed Richie’s shoulder and laughed as Richie practically fell forward when he woke up, throwing out his own arm to catch him so he didn’t fall off. 

“What time is it?” Richie rubbed his eyes before scratching his messy mop of hair. 

“Almost midnight. Mike should be back soon.” 

“Aw shit. Guess I have to go, then.” Richie stood up and stretched his arms over his head, letting his shirt rise up to show the bottom of his stomach. Eddie gulped as he stood up. 

He looked up at the taller boy, hoping he would look back at him and kiss him. Eddie was too nervous to initiate anything - he wasn’t sure what Richie wanted. 

“Welp. I’ll see you around.” Richie brought his hand up to Eddie’s shoulder before turning around to walk out of the dorm. 

_ See you around? _

“Are you forgetting anything?” Eddie’s voice cracked as he opened the door for Richie. 

“Nope. Got my phone right here.” Richie pulled it out of his pocket. “You can keep the rest of the soda.”

“Ok. Walk safe.” Eddie closed the door before scrunching up his face, bringing his hand up to his forehead. He felt tears well up in his eyes, but he willed them back in. He was extremely sleep deprived and wasn’t in the mood to get emotional. It was stupid of him to get attached so quickly. Richie probably wanted to take things slow (which doesn’t explain the multiple makeout sessions), right? Or was Eddie just a way to spend his Tuesday night? 

Eddie groaned as he flopped onto his bed, getting under his covers and flipping himself to face the wall. He pretended to be asleep when Mike opened the door - he wasn’t in the mood to talk. 

He checked his phone under his blanket to see if Richie sent him anything.

His notifications were empty. 

He let his tears fall this time, blaming his emotional state on his exhaustion as he tried to sleep. 


End file.
